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Walnut Catsup

A walnut-based condiment made by simmering walnut shells with spices and salt, then bottling and aging.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Walnut Catsup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the walnut liquor

  1. Mix walnut shells with common salt in a tub.

  2. Let them stand for 6 days, beating and washing frequently.

  3. Bank the shells to one side of the tub to let the liquor run clear.

  4. Simmer the liquor in an iron pot until scum rises.

Season and bottle

  1. Add allspice, ginger, long pepper, and cloves; boil slowly for 30 minutes.

  2. Bottle the mixture, ensuring equal spice in each bottle, cork tightly, and seal.

  3. Store in a cool, dry place for 1 year before use.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Allspice + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Walnut shells
Release the dark, tannin-rich liquor that gives the ketchup its colour and bitter, astringent body.
Common salt
Draws liquid out of the shells and preserves the liquor against spoilage.
Allspice
Adds warm, aromatic flavour to the finished liquor.
Ginger
Adds pungent, aromatic flavour to the liquor.
Cloves
Adds strong aromatic flavour that carries through the long storage.

The step that matters

Simmering the liquor until scum rises. Skimming off the scum as it rises removes impurities that would otherwise cloud the liquor and spoil its clear, stable character before the spices are added.

Swap the walnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (allspice, ginger, pepper, clove):

  1. Chickpeafits better
  2. Walnutthe original
  3. Beansfits about as well
  4. Cashew nutfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against allspice, ginger, pepper, clove. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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